The opening monologue by Conan O'Brien at the Oscars tackles artificial intelligence, Netflix, and Karla Sofía Gascón.

Conan O'Brien surprised the audience during his opening monologue at the 2025 Oscars with an unusual appearance: emerging from Demi Moore's spine, as a dark homage to the Best Picture-nominated film, The Substance. What else could he do to follow up after the shocking performance by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo with "Defying Gravity"?

After this unsettling start, O'Brien delved into his usual monologue, humorously commenting: "A Complete Unknown. A Real Pain. Nosferatu. These are just a few of the names that I was called on the red carpet." The jokes that followed were funny but not aggressive, making him a suitable host for a ceremony surrounded by some controversy.

At one point in his speech, he winked at Karla Sofía Gascón, who was in the audience, saying: "Karla, if you’re going to tweet about the Oscars, my name is Jimmy Kimmel," which prompted uncertain reactions from the attendees. He also made sure to mention Netflix, sarcastically pointing out its dominance in nominations with "a total of 18 price increases."

Addressing one of the industry's most controversial topics, artificial intelligence, O'Brien joked: "We didn’t use AI to make this show. We would never do that. We used child labor. Hey, they’re still people!" In a more serious turn, the host took a moment to pay tribute to the city of Los Angeles and the workers who make the magic of cinema possible. Finally, he concluded his monologue with a musical number featuring a sandworm from Dune: Part Two playing "Chopsticks" on the piano, accompanied by a dancing Deadpool.